CDC faces questions over updated mask guidelines as infections rise and groundbreaking cases rise

The number of people with coronavirus is increasing again across the country. Only three states – Missouri, Texas and Florida – currently account for 40% of new COVID-19 cases in that country.

“The delta virus is much more contagious. Its viral load is thousands of times higher than our previous variants. It will make even the average healthy person sick now,” said Dr. Catherine O’Neal of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The delta variant of the coronavirus now accounts for more than 83% of all COVID-19 infections in this country. All three vaccines with emergency use authorization protect people at a high rate against serious illness or death of the delta variant.

“We know that in our intensive care units we see younger people intubated who are very sick or who are on the floor and who are very sick. It should be a huge wake-up call,” said Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the Division. of Infectious Diseases, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

However, vaccines are not 100% effective and as community spread increases, so does the number of vaccinated Americans who test positive and pass the virus on to others.

Even the White House has seen new cases of breakthrough.

Now, the Biden administration is in discussions with the CDC to see if the masking guidelines need to be updated.

“We never said the battle is over, it is still going on. It would be more worrying – or should be more worrying – for you and the American people if we didn’t have these conversations,” said the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. Thusday.

CDC guidelines currently indicate that vaccinated Americans can return to normal activities without wearing masks or social distancing.

The problem is, without a mask warrant, unvaccinated Americans also drop their masks. Health officials fear the honor system is failing in many places.

“We are always reviewing the data as it arrives. Our direction has been clear since we released it several months ago,” CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky said Thursday.

The CDC says its guidelines remain unchanged, but some vaccinated health experts say they are keeping their masks on.

“I haven’t really taken off my mask. I go out and I walk – I still have my mask. Me sure, when I go to the post office or the grocery store or the drugstore, or any other place, I keep my mask on This is extra protection, ”Dr. Zeke Emanuel told CNN.

Jerome Adams, who was the Surgeon General of the United States under former President Donald Trump, wrote an opinion piece in the Washington post this week that called on the CDC to change its directions.

“The agency must urgently revise its masking guidelines to combat the rapid growth of COVID-19 infections caused by the delta variant,” he wrote.

“Without a mechanism to determine who is vaccinated and who is not, companies and others have been powerless to determine which people were following the guidelines – that is, vaccinated and safely unmasked – and which people were benefiting. simply an opportunity to avoid a highly politicized policy. public health intervention (and widely hated) ”, Adams continued.

Kellan Howell contributed to this report.